According to IMDB, "Sewing Woman" took 18 years to complete! Fortunately, there was some payoff for all that work as the film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.
The film begins in China just before the Japanese invasion in 1931. The beginning is quite sad, as Zem Ping Dong grew up in a poor family and like the stories by Pearl Buck, her parents were so poor that after she was born, they gave away or killed any other daughters they had....a sad, awful practice but one culturally acceptable back then. What follows is Zem narrating her life from this home, to married, to moving to America and having a family of her own.
In so many ways, it's a typical American immigrant's story....relatable to most Americans, even if not of Chinese ancestry. Because of this, Zem's story is very relatable and worth seeing.
The film consists of film, lots of photos and voice actresses speaking for the real life Zem. Well worth seeing and both sad and poignant and, eventually, happy.
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